


Signing My Love

by BeccaAnne814



Series: Clint Barton x Reader Series [2]
Category: Captain America (Movies), Captain America - All Media Types, Hawkeye (Comics), Marvel, Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel Movies), The Avengers (Marvel) - All Media Types
Genre: F/M, Fluff, Mind Control, Nightmares, Suspense, cursing
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-12-17
Updated: 2019-12-17
Packaged: 2021-02-26 01:00:57
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 8,143
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21831967
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/BeccaAnne814/pseuds/BeccaAnne814
Summary: Being recruited as an Agent of S.H.I.E.L.D. wasn’t what you’d always thought you’d do for a living.  But now that you’ve graduated from the Academy, you’re having a hard time hiding your excitement at being assigned to Avengers Tower in New York City.  However, your first day in the Big Apple doesn’t exactly go as planned when you realize someone’s stalking you.  Do you truly have what it takes to be an Agent of S.H.I.E.L.D., or should you have stayed in your tiny little town like everyone wanted you to?
Relationships: clint barton x reader
Series: Clint Barton x Reader Series [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1562941
Comments: 2
Kudos: 26





	Signing My Love

**Clint Barton x Reader**

**Summary** – Being recruited as an Agent of S.H.I.E.L.D. wasn’t what you’d always thought you’d do for a living. But now that you’ve graduated from the Academy, you’re having a hard time hiding your excitement at being assigned to Avengers Tower in New York City. However, your first day in the Big Apple doesn’t exactly go as planned when you realize someone’s stalking you. Do you truly have what it takes to be an Agent of S.H.I.E.L.D., or should you have stayed in your tiny little town like everyone wanted you to?

**Warnings** – Fluff, Suspense, Mind Control, Nightmares…probably a curse word or two

**Word Count** – 8.2K

**Notes **\- Parts 1 - 8 of 8

** _**Updated December 17, 2019**_ **

_ ** [Masterlist](https://beccaanne814.tumblr.com/post/174989754188/masterlist) ** _

[[MORE]]

She'd never been to New York City before. Hell, she'd never really been anywhere before she'd been recruited to S.H.I.E.L.D. a little over a year ago. Her family had told her she was making a huge mistake, but as the plane flew over the city heading to JFK International and she saw that famous skyline out of the tiny window, she knew she was exactly where she wanted to be.

Her top scores at the Academy—both academic and in the field—had earned her a coveted position working at Avengers Tower in the heart of New York City. All of the other cadets had been insanely jealous that she would be working alongside actual superheroes while they paid their dues in remote outposts in places no one had ever heard of. She let them believe that she was hitting the big time, but she was realistic enough to know that she'd most likely be stuck in a cubicle dozens of floors away from the real action—but what they didn't know wouldn't hurt them.

After disembarking, grabbing her suitcase from baggage claim, and catching the AirTrain to the nearest subway station, she was finally on her way to her new job. S.H.I.E.L.D. had offered to have someone pick her up at the airport, but she'd opted for public transportation to help her get a feel for the city. It was a beautiful Spring day and she was anxious to walk the streets of downtown Manhattan and experience the Big Apple as it was meant to be seen—on foot.

She'd poured over the maps for days memorizing the route she needed to take from the airport to the closest station to the Tower. She'd even did some sleuthing on the internet to find the best tourist spots along Park Avenue in case she had a little time to grab a bite to eat or pick up some souvenirs to send home. But all of her research hadn't prepared her for the sight of the city as she walked up the stairs of the subway station. She knew she looked like every other dumbstruck tourist, but for a moment she didn't care what anyone else thought of her. The skyscrapers were looming above her, blocking the light from the sun, and she felt her heart skip a beat. She'd done it—she'd made it out of her little small town and was finally realizing her dream of living in the big city.

But her first experience wasn't all sunshine and roses.

The first time she'd felt the hairs on the back of her neck stand up was when she'd gotten into the subway car at the airport. She'd brushed it off at first, but she could still feel someone watching her as she changed stations. Hoping she was just being paranoid, she implemented some of the evasion tactics she'd learned at the Academy and for a few minutes she'd lost him—or her—when she'd ducked into the pizza place a few blocks from the Tower.

She stood in the corner of the restaurant and ate her piping hot slice as she studied the faces of the people passing by. One by one, she dismissed them all as being the possible stalker she'd picked up at the airport. Throwing away her napkin and empty to-go cup, she merged back into the throng and continued toward her new home.

Just as Avengers Tower came into view, she felt the eyes on her back again. She was so close to her destination, but she knew she needed to take care of this threat before she reached her home base. What would it look like if she showed up for her first day on the job with a tail? No, she had to deal with her stalker before she would truly become an Agent of S.H.I.E.L.D. 

Slipping into an alley, she stowed her suitcase in a dark corner and waited. She'd deliberately showed her hand hoping that her potential assailant would take the bait. With her heart racing and her breath frozen in her lungs, she tried to stay calm as a shadow began to creep into the alley.

Taking the initiative, she came out ready to fight. Sweeping her leg out, she knocked his feet out from under him, but he was quick. Within a beat, he'd rolled out of range and was in a crouch staring at her. At least she thought he was staring at her. The dark hooded sweatshirt hid his face from view, but from his build, she was pretty sure he was a man.

He popped up and came at her with a right hook that she easily dodged. Using his momentum against him, she landed a blow in his right kidney that had him groaning in pain. Not wanting to give him a chance to recover, she slid around behind him and kicked the back of one knee. When he hit the ground, she had her hands locked around his throat in an instant as she did her best to choke the life out of him.

He began to hit her thigh with his hand as he struggled to speak. "Uncle, uncle."

Her head cocked to the side in confusion, but she didn't let up on the pressure.

"Mercy?" he squeaked out. "For Christ's sake woman—olly olly oxen free?" 

She loosened her grip a bit, but she was still wary. "Who are you? Why were you following me?"

"I'm the welcoming party, Agent YLN," he said as he began to drag as much air into his aching lungs as he could.

She let go of her choke hold, but grabbed one of his arms to twist it up behind his back. With her other hand, she pulled off his hood and she her stomach plummeted as she realized who her stalker was.

"Oh, shit," she said as she let go of him. "Agent Barton, I'm so sorry. I didn’t mean to hurt you."

Mortification washed over her like a wave as she reached out to help him to his feet. This was not how she wanted to make a first impression. Who assaults their superior officer on the first day? Especially one that was deaf. She wished the ground would open up and swallow her whole.

When he began to laugh, she paused and stared at him as though he'd lost his mind. She silently prayed that she hadn't caused some type of irreversible brain damage while she'd been choking him.

"No need to apologize," he said with a huge smile. "You did exactly what I'd hoped you'd do." He paused to rub his neck which was still red after being in a choke hold. "Although I'll admit, I wish you hadn't done it so well. My throat is going to be sore for days."

He held out a hand, and for a moment she stared at it dumbly. Had he just complimented her? Had it all been a test? Realization began to dawn on her and a huge smile spread across her face. 

She'd just taken down one of the Avengers.

Reaching out, she took his hand and gave it a firm shake. "Thank you, sir. It's a pleasure to meet you, by the way."

His face scrunched up and he shook his head. "Don't call me sir. Clint works just fine for me, or Hawkeye if you're feeling fancy."

"I'm not sure if I'm ready for that just yet," she replied honestly. "How about I just stick to Agent Barton for now?"

"Whatever floats your boat." He motioned toward her suitcase. "Let's get you squared away in the Tower and then you can meet the rest of the team."

"The—the team?" she stammered.

He gave her a lopsided grin. "Coulson didn't tell you? You're going to be our new recon officer. Think of it like the guy in the chair."

"The guy in the chair," she repeated quietly to herself. "I'm the Avengers' new guy in the chair."

Clint laughed and clapped a hand on her back as he began to lead her to the Tower. "Lose the starstruck look before we get there. Tony likes to eat newbies for breakfast, and I made a bet that you wouldn't fawn all over us."

She paused at the edge of the alley and crossed her arms over her chest. "If I help you out, do I get any of the winnings?"

Clint let out a low whistle as he dropped his head. "You're going to fit right in. And yeah, I'll split it with you eighty-twenty."

"Sixty-forty," she countered with a hard look.

"Seventy-thirty," he countered as he held up a finger. "Last offer—take it or leave it."

She held out a hand. "You've got a deal."

"Welcome to New York City," he said as he shook her hand with a smile.

The guy in the chair.

That's how Clint had described her new job the first day she'd met him. What he'd failed to mention was where the chair would be. She hadn't been upset to learn that as the team's recon officer, she'd be accompanying them on missions and using the Quinjet as her base of operations. She'd scored top marks in field work, so she'd be able to handle herself if and when a threat came her way.

Over the past two years, she'd grown to love the members of her new family, and much to her surprise, she'd also fallen in love with her superior officer. It was just her luck then, that he returned her feelings as well.

Tony always teased them when Clint would stop to briefly kiss her before heading down the cargo ramp to deal with whatever new threat had called them into action. They'd used to be able to use sign language to say all the heartfelt things that made Tony pretend to gag, but Steve had insisted they all learn ASL—just in case.

She'd never been so glad that Steve was a "worst scenario" kinda guy than she was at that very moment. HYDRA had been busy since the last time they tried to squash them, and someone had gone and developed a supersonic device that left them all temporarily deaf—or at least she hoped it was temporary.

Clint's hearing aids hadn't seemed to have been affected by the new weapon, and YN was thankful that the supersonic blast hadn't knocked out their comms, so she was still able to communicate with him. She couldn't hear what she was saying, but at least Clint could. She'd bypassed their security and accessed their surveillance system and was currently relaying information to Clint who was then using sign language to direct the rest of the team. It wasn't a perfect solution, but hopefully it was one that would get everyone out alive at the end of the day.

After a harrowing battle, the team began to straggle back to the Quinjet. They were beaten and broken more than usual—all except Clint. YN took the mildly annoying ringing in her ears as a good sign that her hearing was slowly starting to return. Clint got them in the air and took over comms as YN helped to bandage the more severe wounds of her teammates.

By the time they made it back to the Tower, everyone had regained most of their hearing. There was still a slight humming sound that none of them could quite shake, and Steve insisted that they all check in with the Doc once they landed.

With a huge smile, Clint set the plane down and then turned in his seat before lowering the cargo door. "Now you guys know what's it like to be me. How'd it feel?"

Everyone answered at once, and a chorus of "That sucked," "I'll take a hard pass," and "I don't want to do that again" could be heard throughout the jet. Clint smirked and hit the lever that would lower the door.

"I guess it's a good thing I'm deaf isn't it?" he said as he began strutting through the plane toward the exit. "Y'all would've been toast out there if it hadn't been for my hearing aids."

"About that," Tony said as he cocked his head and motioned toward Clint's ear. "Why didn't the blast take those out?"

"I don't know," YN said as she walked into Clint's open arms. "But you're thinking what I'm thinking, right?"

"I get to make new toys?" Tony asked with a wink.

"Get on it, genius," Clint said as he unfastened one of his hearing aids and tossed it to Tony.

YN looked up at Clint with a smile as she used her index finger to trace her thoughts onto his chest. They'd resorted to this form of communication around the others when they truly wanted a moment of privacy. Clint grabbed her wrist and began to trace his message to her. He drew the letter "I," a heart, the letter "U," and the number "2" as he stared into her eyes. It was simple, but the emotions behind the words were anything but.

YN dreaded her turn to do the grocery shopping, but since Steve had created the chore wheel, she wound up at the supermarket a few towns away from the Compound at least once a month. It was days like this that she missed living in the city where take-out was a simple phone call away. Since Tony had moved them all out to the Compound, he and Steve had decided that their lives needed to be a bit more structured.

As she pushed the cart through the aisles and haphazardly tossed cans and boxes into it without really looking, she groaned in frustration. She was a highly trained S.H.I.E.L.D. agent, and an Avenger in everything but name—she should not have to be the one to make sure Steve got his Fiber One brownies, or that Peter had a stockpile of juice boxes in the fridge. 

But here she was, wandering aimlessly through the overly bright warehouse-like store checking off items that people had personally requested. Once she'd intentionally bought the opposite of what everyone had asked for, but instead of getting taken off the chore wheel, she'd gotten two extra trips to the grocery store added as a punishment. 

Clint had found it hilarious and had even grown to like the cardboard-like Weight Watchers pizzas she'd picked up in the frozen food aisle. She'd made sure to make him pay for that later on when no one was around to witness it, but that had also backfired as well. 

Realizing that she was stuck with this monotonous chore for the rest of her life, she vowed to get in and out of the store as quickly as possible and hope that someone evil decided to take over the world on her days. But so far, that hadn't happened.

When she finally made it to the check-out counter, she started placing the items on the conveyor belt as the cashier began scanning them. Thankfully, she wasn't as recognizable as Tony or Steve, so no one stopped her to ask for a selfie or an autograph.

Once she'd swiped the credit card, she waited for the cashier to give her the receipt so she could finally escape back to the peace and quiet of the Compound. There was something about grocery stores that made the screams of spoiled children that much harsher than normal, and she'd had to endure three temper tantrums in the forty-five minutes she'd been trapped in the building.

She took the receipt and stared at the flyer the cashier had handed her along with it. "What's this?"

"Free ticket to the circus next week," the kid said as she popped her gum and began ringing up the next customer. "If you want more, there's a stack by the front door."

Intrigued, YN grabbed enough for the team as she headed out the door. It was stupid and cheesy, but it might be something fun for them to do if the evil forces of the world decided to play nice for one evening.

The team met her in the garage to help carry up all the food, and they were shocked to see her actually smiling as she pulled in.

"Who are you and what have you done with my girlfriend?" Clint asked as he eyed her warily.

She held up the tickets with a big, goofy grin. "Look what I've got."

Clint took a ticket as his face grew hard. "I don't go to the circus."

"Why not?" YN was confused, but no one else seemed to willing to fill her in on what she was missing. "What don't I know?"

"You haven't told her?" Nat asked in disbelief.

"Told me what?" YN demanded as she placed her hands on her hips and glared at her boyfriend.

Clint took her hand and led her toward the elevator. "You guys finish this up, okay?"

As soon as the doors closed, YN turned on Clint. "Okay, spill it."

He hung his head and sighed. "I told you my parents died when I was kid, right? That me and my brother, Barney, had to get by on our own for most of our lives?"

"You don't talk about it much," YN said softly. "But I don't see what that has to do with the circus."

The elevator stopped on their floor and Clint started heading down the hallway toward their room. Once the door was firmly shut behind them, he sat on the edge of the bed and waited for YN to join him.

"When we ran away from the orphanage, we came across a circus," he began with a faraway look in his eye. "The Carson Carnival of Traveling Wonders." He dropped his head. "Two of the performers, Jacques Duquesne and Buck Chisholm, took me and Barney under their wing."

"So, you traveled with circus?" YN asked, shocked that she hadn't known about this part of his history before now.

"Yeah," he said with a nod. "Jacques was the Swordsman and he taught me everything I know about a blade, but it was Buck—Trick Shot— that really took an interest in me. I had a natural ability with a bow from the very beginning, and with his help, I became the marksman I am today."

"I have a feeling there's more to the story."

Clint sighed heavily and gave her a sad smile. "It only gets worse from here. Sure you want to know?"

She reached over and began tracing words onto his forearm.

When she'd finished, he grabbed her hand and kissed her knuckles. "I love you, too."

"If it's too painful to talk about. . ."

"No," he interrupted. "It'll be good to finally get it all out in the open." He took a deep breath. "Where was I?"

"Swordsman and Trick Shot," she reminded him.

"Right. Jacques had a gambling problem and when I accidentally caught him embezzling money to pay off his debts, he beat me to within an inch of my life."

"Oh, Clint."

He laid a hand on her cheek and smiled. "It was a long time ago. I've gotten over it.

"Anyway, after I tried to turn Jacques in to the authorities, Barney and Buck stopped him from killing me, but things were never the same after that."

"What happened to them?"

"Barney ended up enlisting in the Army," Clint told her. "He eventually joined the FBI and we mended fences, but we both still have a lot of guilt and resentment from our time with Carson's. I bounced around from circus to circus until I met Fury and Nat. Since then, I haven't been able to go back to the circus—too many bad memories."

YN wrapped an arm around Clint and laid her head on his shoulder. "I'm so sorry you had to go through that."

He leaned his head against hers and closed his eyes. "It's not your fault."

"I know, but it still makes me sad to think of you as a lonely little boy with no one to take care of you."

Lifting his head, he turned her face to his and kissed her. "I have you now, don't I?"

She smiled. "Absolutely, and I'm not going anywhere."

He kissed her again and then sighed. "I guess we should go help put away the groceries." He started to get up, but she stopped him.

"Let's not," she said with a devious look in her eye. "It's not going to kill them, and I need to focus on comforting my boyfriend. I'm sure they'll all understand."

Clint gave her a questioning look as he sat back down and pulled her into his lap. "What kind of comfort are we talking about?"

With a sultry smile she leaned down and whispered in his ear, "The kind that requires a shower afterward."

YN thought she knew everything there was to know about her boyfriend—especially after they'd had the heart-to-heart conversation about his childhood—but it seemed as though Clint still had secrets.

She'd noticed that on his days to go into town, he always tended to spend longer than any of the other team members. He'd also volunteered to fill out the chore calendar each month and his days to leave the Compound always fell on Mondays and Thursdays. She'd tried to surreptitiously ask him why he always chose those two days, but he'd evaded her questions and changed the subject.

Being left with only one other option, she decided to follow him. It wasn't that she was worried he was cheating on her—it was just that he'd promised her no more secrets after he'd told her about his brother. Part of her wondered if perhaps someone from his past had come back into his life, and he felt like he needed to take care of whatever problems they'd brought with them on his own.

Knowing that he'd pick up a tail the second he'd left the Compound, she'd made up an excuse to leave before him. Parking the SUV behind a dumpster in the back parking lot of a restaurant, she climbed onto the roof and pulled out her binoculars to keep watch for him.

The little town close to their home was small enough that from her position on top of the pizzeria, she could see every storefront along Main Street, as well as the shops along a few of the side streets. She felt ridiculous for spying on her boyfriend, but the thought of someone potentially blackmailing him made her blood boil.

After twenty minutes when he still hadn't come into town, she began to worry that his secret doings might possibly take place somewhere other than in town, but then she spotted the Audi flying down the road. She tensed as Clint whipped the sports sedan into the pizzeria's parking lot and started heading for the ladder leading to the roof.

When he passed by her hiding spot and went inside, she groaned in embarrassment. He probably just wanted some damn pizza and she'd gone full-out conspiracy nut and assumed the worst.

Clint came back out a few minutes later with a large slice of pizza hanging out of his mouth and a giant to-go cup. At first she thought he'd gotten a super-sized soda, but when she saw the steam and how he took tentative sips, she realized it was coffee. How could someone drink that much coffee and still sleep at night?

Figuring the mystery had been solved, she started to pack away her surveillance equipment, but then she noticed that Clint didn't turn left to head back to the car. Curious, she raised the binoculars back to her eyes and watched him start walking toward a group of women wearing workout clothes and yoga mats slung over their shoulders. 

Clint shoved the last bite of pizza in his mouth and raised his enormous cup of coffee up in salute as he greeted the women like old friends. Hitting the button on the side of binoculars, she zoomed in tried to read the lips of the women talking to Clint. She couldn't be sure, but it almost seemed like they'd said they were looking forward to his class.

His class? YN had no idea what was going on, but she knew she was too invested not to stick around and find out. She waited until he'd gone inside with the ladies before climbing down off the roof and following him into the yoga studio.

"Are you here for Clint's class?" the perky blonde at the front desk asked when YN walked in.

"Um, yeah," she answered as she glanced down at her clothes. She was wearing what could be considered yoga pants, but she didn't have a mat.

"You can borrow one of the studio's mats if you'd like," the receptionist offered as she pointed to a bin full of brightly colored foam mats. "It's ten dollars for one session, or you can buy a package of ten for eighty-five dollars." She nodded to a few women who were signing in before turning back to YN. "If I were you, I'd go for the package deal—after one class with Clint, you'll be hooked."

YN dug out a ten dollar bill and slid it over to the perky blonde. "I'll give him a shot, but I'm a little skeptical. I mean, I did just watch him cram an entire slice of pizza in his mouth a few minutes ago, and that cup of coffee? Definitely not zen."

The blonde laughed and waved away her concerns. "He's unconventional—I'll give you that—but he's a really great instructor." She leaned forward and cupped a hand around her mouth as she began to whisper. "And just wait until you see his muscles."

YN's mouth dropped open. Were women paying ten bucks a pop to come ogle her boyfriend? Anger coursed through her as she turned on her heel, grabbed a mat, and headed into the studio. 

Class was just about to start, so she set up in the back behind a tall brunette who would hopefully hide her from Clint if he happened to glance back. She scanned the crowd looking for lecherous women, but all she saw were bright smiles as the women went through their warmup stretches.

She relaxed a bit and began to follow along, and before she knew it, she'd actually started to sweat as Clint pushed the class into more and more difficult positions that she hadn't even been aware he knew. The fact that he knew the difference between downward dog and child's pose was shocking to her, but seeing how effortlessly he led the class told her that yoga wasn't something he'd just picked up a few months ago.

A chorus of "namastes" echoed throughout the room as the session ended and YN quickly began rolling up her mat so she could leave before Clint spotted her, but she wasn't quick enough.

"Ladies, on your way out, be sure to say hello to my girlfriend," Clint announced to the class. "She's the one in black with the deer-in-the-headlights look in her eye."

Knowing she'd been caught, she stopped at the door and turned back to hear a few groans from some of the ladies. Yoga Barbie at the front desk hadn't been kidding about some of the ladies liking to ogle her boyfriend. Maybe it was a good thing she'd crashed the party today. She was too busy fighting the evils of the world—she didn't need to add a gaggle of horny soccer moms to her to-do list.

She'd initially decided to follow him to spare him from being blackmailed, but now she wasn't so sure she wouldn't be the one blackmailing him herself. Having a dozen women throwing daggers at her with their eyes didn't sit too well with her, and she was pretty sure he wouldn't want Tony finding out about his extracurricular activities. She wasn't sure what payment she'd extract from him, but now that she knew just how flexible he truly was, she was fairly sure she could come up with something creative.

"I've got eyes on the target," YN radioed in as she put the blonde in her crosshairs.

"Negative," Clint said. "I've got eyes on the target."

YN took a closer look through her scope. The woman walking down the dark alley fit the description they'd been given perfectly. "Are you sure? Cause this chick looks exactly like the photo in the dossier."

"You're both wrong," Steve said. "I've got eyes on Esme Frost."

A sinking feeling settled into YN's gut. "What was this chick capable of doing again?"

"She's got powers similar to mine," Wanda said. "But there's something off with her mind. I can't quite figure it out—give me a second."

"Okay, new plan," Steve said as he deserted his position and started pursuing Esme. "Follow your targets until we have confirmation from Wanda, but don't get too close. We don't know the range of her telepathic powers."

"Copy that," YN and Clint said simultaneously.

YN packed up her rifle and slung the bag over her shoulder as she headed toward the fire escape. Her "Esme" had just slipped into a building and YN didn't want to lose her.

"What's your position, Clint?" Steve asked.

"Mine went into a building," he reported. "Following her n. . ."

YN drew up short when Clint's words trailed off suddenly. "Clint? Clint, do you copy? Does anyone have eyes on Clint?"

___________________

When he'd first walked in, the building had looked dark and abandoned, but now there were flashing neon lights everywhere and the loud bells and whistles of the carnival games made his hearing aids buzz uncomfortably.

"Who said you were welcome back?"

Clint spun around to see the Swordsman walking toward him—or at least what was left of him. His circus costume hung in tatters and rotting flesh looked as though it was melting right off of his bones.

"You're dead," Clint said as he reached for an arrow from the quiver on his back.

"You won't be needing that here, boy," Trick Shot said as he took the bow from Clint's hand and threw it toward the Swordsman.

Clint lurched for his weapon, but his feet were like lead. He stumbled and fell to the ground. A hand reached out to Clint and he looked up in shock at the last person he thought he'd ever see. 

"Get up, little brother."

"Barney?"

"We've got a show in less than ten minutes," Barney said. "And you know how pissy the Swordsman gets when we're late."

Clint shook his head. "This isn't right. We're not really here." His hands went to his temples as he shut his eyes and willed himself out of the nightmare.

When he opened his eyes again, the Swordsman, with his grotesque face, was right in front of him. "You'll pay for what you've done, boy. Even death can't keep me from getting my revenge."

___________________

YN was torn between following her target and going after Clint. By the time she reached the ground, she'd made her choice. The target he'd been following took him out somehow, so she must have been the real deal. As for the woman she'd been tracking, YN wasn't sure, and she didn't much care.

"I'm going after Clint," YN said into the comms as she began running toward his last known location. "Anyone want to cover me?"

"I'm here." Wanda dropped down beside her and began running with her. 

"What's the deal with this chick?" YN asked as they reached the door and flanked each side of it.

Wanda shook her head. "I can't explain it. It's like her thoughts are echoing inside of her own head."

"Can you take her out?"

Red wisps of energy flowed freely from Wanda's hands and her eyes began to glow. "I'd like to see her try to stop me."

YN signaled that she'd go low and then counted down with her fingers. On _one_ she and Wanda burst through the door. Clint was lying on the ground unconscious while two identical looking women stood over him with eyes glowing bright blue.

"Shit," YN muttered. "There's two of them."

Wanda used her powers to pick both of them up off the ground and then smack their heads together. They both crumpled to the floor beside Clint as Wanda cocked her head to the side. "There's three of them. The echoes are gone, but I can still sense one."

"I've got the third one," Steve radioed in. 

"Knock her out," YN told him as she dropped to her knees next to Clint. "We can't know for sure she's not using her powers against Clint."

They heard a muffled thump over the comms. "Target is subdued." He paused for a moment. "I've got to call Ross in on this one. There's three of them. . ."

"And we were only prepared for one," Wanda finished for him. "Put the collar on yours, I'll take care of my two until Ross' men get here."

YN laid two fingers along Clint's next to feel for a pulse as she looked up at her friend. "You know they're going to the Raft?"

"They've killed people," Wanda said with a resigned sigh. 

Clint groaned and YN's attention turned back to him. She wanted to say something to comfort her friend, but there would be time for that later.

"Hey," she said to Clint as his eyes began to open. "You okay?"

He struggled to sit up and as he did, he glared over at the two women lying unconscious beside him. "There's two of them?"

"Three, actually," Wanda said.

"What did they do to you?" YN asked as she helped him to his feet.

Clint looked around at the abandoned warehouse before meeting YN's gaze again. "They sent me back home. And it wasn't a welcomed reunion."

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_Author's Note: Thank you for reading Day 251 of my writing challenge. I hope you enjoyed it! If any of you watched Gifted on Fox, you probably recognized the Frost triplets. They're pretty nasty, but I needed some Marvel villains capable of doing what Wanda did to get Clint into a "haunted" carnival. I love exploring this part of Clint's backstory, and it makes me mad that the MCU totally ignored it. But I have plans to incorporate it some more in this story! I look forward to your comments, and if you enjoyed this story, please consider reblogging!_

"Do you want to talk about it?" YN asked once they were back at the Compound and in their room. Clint had been quiet the entire trip back, and she was worried that whatever he'd seen had brought back some bad memories.

Clint shook his head. "It was so real. I mean, I knew it wasn't, but it was like I could reach right out and touch them."

"Who?" YN asked softly. "Barney?"

"Yeah." He paused for a moment and stared up at the ceiling. "The Swordsman and Trick Shot were there, too."

She wanted to ask him a dozen questions, but she stayed quiet and decided to let him tell her at his own pace.

"Jacques—The Swordsman—he's dead," Clint said after a few moments. "The skin was literally rotting off of his bones. He told me I shouldn't have come back." He closed his eyes as he tried to remember each part of the vision. "Trick Shot took my bow from me before I had a chance to shoot the Swordsman, and I ended up flat on my face."

Not knowing what else to do, she reached out and wrapped an arm around his shoulders. She couldn't even begin to imagine how horrible it must have been to have to live out his worst nightmare. For the first time that night, she was glad the Frost triplets were on their way to the Raft.

"Barney showed up after I fell. He told me we had a show starting in ten minutes." Clint huffed and ran a hand through his hair. "When I finally got to my feet the Swordsman was there ready to kill me." He looked over at her. "That's it. That's all of it. I know it doesn't sound like much, but it was the most intense few minutes. . ."

"I'm not doubting what you experienced," she assured him. "I hate that you had to go through that at all." She paused and bit her lower lip as she debated her next words. "When was the last time you saw your brother? I mean, in real life?"

Clint's brow furrowed as he looked over at her. "Not for years." He took a deep breath. "Barney decided to leave the circus after I almost died. He enlisted in the Army and he begged me to go with him. We were just kids when our dad got drunk and ran the car into a tree killing him and our mom, so for most of our lives, it had just been the two of us."

"Why didn't you go with him?"

"That's just it," he said. "I tried. He told me he'd wait at the bus stop for me, but by the time I got there, both he and the bus were gone." He hung his head and sighed. "I've seen him a few times since then, but I never told him I showed up that day."

"Do you think there's a reason why the Frost's put you back in the carnival?" When he looked at her with a furrowed brow, she tried a different approach. "Out of all your memories, why do you think that was the one you ended up in?"

"I don't know. I guess I haven't really thought about it."

"Maybe it's a sign that you need to reach out to your brother," she suggested.

Clint nodded. "You know, maybe you're right. Maybe this was the wake-up call I needed to get my ass in gear." He leaned over and kissed her temple. "What would I do without you?"

She rolled her eyes and laughed. "I honestly have no clue—probably eat too much pizza and sleep all day."

He thought about it for a moment. "That actually doesn't sound all that bad, now that I think about it."

Grabbing a pillow, she smacked him upside the head. She'd been worried about him after his encounter with the telepathic triplets, but it seemed like he was back to his old self again—and for that she was glad.

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_Author's Note: Thank you for reading Day 298 of my writing challenge. I hope you enjoyed it! You guys see where I'm going with this now, don't you? I read a headcanon once where instead of Clint and Laura having the farm, it was Barney and Laura. It was made by a Clintasha shipper, but it would've made perfect sense. Every time I delve into the comic versions of these characters I always feel like the MCU has cheated out of so much. But that's why we have fanfiction, right? I look forward to your comments, and if you enjoyed this story, please consider reblogging!_

"Remind me again who's idea it was to have two Bartons' in the Compound," Tony asked YN once he'd found her in the gym running on the treadmill.

She reduced her speed and started her cool down as she shook her head. "If I remember correctly, it was you who said how nice it would be to have two expert marksmen."

He pointed an accusatory finger at her. "That was before I knew they were just a couple of Slackers."

"Slackers?" She tried to contain her giggle, but she failed.

Tony put his hands on his hips and glared at her. "It's not funny. All they do is eat pizza and sleep all day."

"That's not true." She stepped down off the treadmill and reached for a towel. "Sometimes they eat cheese sticks."

His face went slack as he rolled his eyes. "Can't you do anything with them?"

She walked over and put a hand on his shoulder. "Clint needs this, Tony. The Frost triplets really messed with his head." She shrugged. "He and Barney haven't really had a chance to reconnect since the whole debacle with the circus. I know you're frustrated, but it won't last forever."

"They're shooting arrows in the common room."

"What the hell?" YN threw the towel at Tony and headed upstairs. When she got to the common room, she found that her boyfriend and his brother were in fact, shooting arrows in the common room. But Tony had forgotten to mention the fact that they were using NERF crossbows.

"What in the hell is going on here?" she demanded as she placed her hands on her hips and glared at the two overgrown kids.

"We're just goofing off," Clint said as he held up his toy.

YN took a deep breath and let it out slowly as she began to count down from ten. "I know. If you remember, I was the one that suggested this reunion. What I don't understand is why Tony is so upset."

Barney started laughing. "Ah, don't mind him. He's just pissed cause we only had to two NERF crossbows."

She started to argue with him, but then thought better of it. Coming to her with an exaggerated complaint was something Tony would definitely do because he'd been told he couldn't play. Knowing the billionaire, he was on the phone at that very moment buying NERF so he'd have an endless supply of toys at his disposal.

"Why can't one of you let Tony have a turn?" YN suggested.

"C'mon, mom," Clint teased as he came up behind her and wrapped his arms around her waist. 

She was about to make a snarky comeback when a foam arrow hit her chest dead center. With an appalled gasp, she looked up to see Barney smirking at her. Without missing a beat, she reached behind her and snagged Clint's crossbow and began pelting Barney with arrows.

"Hey," Clint exclaimed as he made a dive for his crossbow, but YN was ready for him.

Firing off a few more arrows, she dodged Clint's outstretched hand and took off toward the stairs. Tony was on his way up, so she tossed the crossbow to him. "All yours—have fun!"

With an evil smirk, Tony planted his feet and waited for Barton to come running down the stairs after YN. Once he'd rounded the corner, Tony let off a few rounds causing Clint to lose his balance and fall back on his ass with a laugh. "Teach you not to let me play in my own house. Bunch of damn Slackers."

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_Author's Note: Thank you for reading Day 324 of my writing challenge. I hope you enjoyed it! I love writing these fluffy domestic fics where everyone gets along and they're all happy. . .and alive. . . Can't you just see Tony tattling that he wasn't allowed to play with the toys? Buying NERF because he wanted his own crossbow would be such a Tony thing to do, right? Barney seems like a lot of fun, though, doesn't he? He seems to have fit right in, and Clint seems happier than he has in the last two parts. Let's just hope this trend continues! I look forward to your comments, and if you enjoyed this story, please consider reblogging!_

Barney sat at the island bar and watched as Clint and YN cooked dinner for them. He'd missed his little brother since they'd parted ways after Carson's, and he knew he had YN to thank for this reunion. He wasn't sure how his idiot brother had gotten so lucky, but Barney knew Clint would be a fool to let this one slip through his fingers.

For most of their lives, Barney and Clint had only ever wanted a family. Their old man had been an abusive drunk and their only regret about the car accident that had taken his life was that he'd taken their mother along with him. Now Barney could see that his brother had finally found the family they'd hoped to create when they'd joined Carson's. He just wondered if perhaps there was room for him as well.

"Dinner was wonderful," Barney told YN as he helped her clean up the kitchen afterwards. Clint had an evening yoga class scheduled, so he'd left them to deal with the mess while he went off to do stretches with bored housewives.

"I'm glad you liked it," YN said as she handed him a soapy dish to rinse and place in the dish drainer. "I know it wasn't pizza, but. . ."

"I'm actually getting sick of pizza," he admitted with a sheepish smile. "But don't tell Clint."

She chuckled and grabbed another plate to wash. "He could literally eat pizza for breakfast, lunch, and dinner. There are some days I wonder if he didn't actually do that before I came along."

Barney nodded in agreement. "You're good for him, you know."

She glanced over at Barney. "You think?"

"I do. After Mom and Dad died, he kinda closed himself off," Barney explained as he took another plate from her and rinsed it off. "Even when we met Jacques and Buck, he never really opened up to them." He glanced around at the common room. "He's made a family here, but I can still tell he's holding back with some of them. But not you."

YN's hands stilled as she processed what Barney was telling her.

"He's vulnerable with you in a way I didn't think he'd ever allow himself to be," Barney continued. "I'd worried that something within him was broken after all we'd been through, but now I see that's not true at all. He just needed someone who was willing to accept him for who he was."

"I love him."

"And he loves you."

YN nodded as tears started to pool in the corners of her eyes. "I didn't plan on falling in love with him. . ."

"Most people don't," Barney interjected with a laugh. "That's how love works, though. One day you're going along minding your own business, and then. . .Bam! You're in love." He wiped his hand on the dish towel and placed it on his shoulder. "I'm glad you encouraged him to reach out to me. I've been trying to find a way to do it, but I didn't want to interfere with all of. . ." He gestured to their surroundings. ". . .this."

"You're not interfering," YN assured him as she patted the hand he'd laid on her shoulder. "Trust me. Clint is always bringing home strays—as Tony likes to put it." She gave him an earnest look. "I'm sure there's room for you if you'd like to stay."

"You think?"

"Just make sure you get Tony a NERF gun."

Barney chuckled. "I like you."

"I like you, too," she said. "And who knows? You might just become my brother one of these days."

** _~ The End ~_ **

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_Author's Note: Thank you for reading Day 351 of my writing challenge. I hope you enjoyed it! This was another one of those stories that was supposed to have been a Oneshot, but then I just kept finding prompts to keep it going. Up until I started this challenge, I'd never written for Clint, but he's always been one of my favorite characters (at least in the comics and cartoons). I was glad to get a chance to really showcase his unique humor and background with story. What did you think of Barney? Think he'll stick around? Do you think Clint and the Reader will end up getting married? I look forward to your comments, and if you enjoyed this story, please consider reblogging!_


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